Arktisk forskning (Arctic Research)

Arktisk forskning (Arctic Research) is sponsored by Independent Research Fund Denmark (Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond). This thematic research grant aims to strengthen Arctic research and Arctic research environments within the Danish Realm.

The politically determined theme should support research projects within Arctic research, which must be carried out by multiple researchers (applicant and Co-PI). This page presents the overall framework for the instrument. The Call for Proposals for the thematic themes of Arctic research and the Danish Realm 2026 can be accessed here or under "Documents” in the right column.

Please read this carefully before applying to DFF for funding. In case of discrepancies between the website and the Call for Proposals, the Call for Proposals applies.

Political framework and theme-specific requirements Politically determined agreement As a result of A greements on Research and Innovation 2026-2029 , DKK 50 million has been allocated to DFF with the purpose of strengthening Arctic research and Arctic research environments in the Danish Realm (“rigsfællesskabet”). The funds are allocated and granted by Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF).

According to the political agreement, the prioritisation of funds can contribute to Arctic research within and across different scientific areas. The prioritisation can, among other things, contribute to increased knowledge on climate change, security political circumstances, and social, cultural and historical circumstances and changes in Arctic communities.

Research on climate change can, e.g., contribute to a sustainable development in the Arctic through a greater understanding of climate change and its impact on biodiversity, ecosystems, cultural heritage as well as living conditions in the Arctic.

The research can also encompass knowledge about the challenges and solutions in regard to physicochemical conditions, climate feedback mechanisms, ecosystems, air and sea pollution, and the living conditions of humans and animals. Research on security political circumstances can relate to historical as well as current questions.

Research on social, cultural and historical circumstances can, e.g., contribute to increased knowledge about cultural heritage, changes and circumstances in the Arctic communities, etc. The prioritisation must support research projects that includes collaboration between different research environments in the Danish Realm, and that includes collaboration with or involvement of representatives from the local population or Indigenous Peoples in the Danish Realm [i.e., the Indigenous People in Greenland].

The research must focus on capacity building of research as well as involvement, dissemination and knowledge exchange with local, Arctic communities.

Objective and theme-specific requirements As a geographical starting point, DFF uses the definition of the Arctic from Arctic Monitoring & Assessment Programme (AMAP), which also includes the Faroe Islands, and which spans the member countries of the Arctic Council, in which the Danish Realm as a whole is represented. Please be aware of section 9.

5 regarding applicants/participants from Russian (and Belarussian) institutions, etc. DFF emphasises that all applications for this theme must include collaboration between researchers from at least two different research environments in the Danish Realm, of which at least one of the research environments must be residing in the country where the research activities are taken place.

Furthermore, it is a requirement that either the applicant or the Co-PI (at a minimum) is associated with an institution in a country within the Danish Realm. To ensure research capacity building, DFF requires that all applications include at least one PhD student or postdoctoral candidate.

PhD students and/or postdoctoral scholarships in the research project can, for instance, be fully or partially associated with research institutions in Greenland or the Faroe Islands. At the same time, DFF requires that all applications involve general capacity building in Arctic communities.

Applications must ensure general capacity building by means of collaboration with or involvement of representatives from the local population or Indigenous Peoples, thus that involvement, dissemination and knowledge exchange with local Arctic communities can take place. DFF emphasises that the collaboration and involvement must be an integrated part of the individual research project.

Involvement and general capacity building can take place in different ways and aim towards different parts of society, e.g., Indigenous Peoples, the local population, or the civil society. The research project can, for instance, involve one or more of the local communities that the research is concerned with or has significance for, or one or more of the local communities close to which the research activities are carried out.

The involvement can, among other things, be focused on how the research project involves the local population or Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives. A mutual exchange of knowledge can occur by means of the involvement, which will benefit the research project as well as the local community.

The research project can be strengthened through the local community’s knowledge of the area, which is the subject of the research, and, at the same time, the knowledge and results of the research project can be exchanged with the local community. DFF urges that the involvement is initiated as early as possible, e.g., in the development stage of the project, and that the application contains relevant collaboration/support letters.

Furthermore, involvement and general capacity building can also take place through the research project contributing to an increase in the general level of knowledge and competencies in the relevant local community or communities.

DFF emphasises the importance of making the knowledge and results of the research project openly available, so that the produced knowledge can benefit and impact the Arctic in general and, specifically, the involved local communities.

In the thematic appendix to your project description, you must account for how the research project includes general capacity building by means of collaboration or involvement of the local population or Indigenous Peoples, including how it will be ensured that the collaboration or involvement happens in an inclusive, credible, appropriate, respectful, and ethically acceptable manner.

The account will be included in the fund’s overall assessment of your application. For further information and inspiration as well as links to examples of relevant guidelines and documents, DFF refers to an appendix on Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives in Arctic research, which appeared in NordForsk’s call Sustainable Development of the Arctic.

For research projects in Greenland, DFF also refers to Arctic Hub , which serves as a central point of contact for Greenland’s local and international research community. Arctic Hub can, among other things, assist with the creation of networks, arrange contacts and provide feedback on how to bridge between research and local communities.

For research projects in the Faroe Islands, DFF also refers to Granskingarráðið – Research Council Faroe Islands , which serves as a central point of contact for the Faroe Islands’ local and international research community. Granskingarráðið can, among other things, assist in arranging contact to institutions and researchers.

DFF notes that it is your responsibility, as an applicant, to ensure that your research project meets the national and international declarations, rules, guidelines, protocols, or similar, that are applicable in the particular area(s) where the research will take place, and/or where the research has concrete significance.

The research project must also meet any research-ethical guidelines at an institutional level, etc. This applies, e.g., to research projects that fully or partially take place in, or has significance for Greenland or the Faroe Islands, where DFF refers to Greenland’s National Research Strategy from 2022 and Arctic Policy of the Faroe Islands from 2024.

For research projects that involve Indigenous Peoples, DFF refers to the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as well as The Circumpolar Inuit Protocols for Equitable and Ethical Engagement , known as the EEE protocols. Up to DKK 5,000,000 excl. overhead Applicant and Co-PI must have obtained a PhD degree or equivalent qualifications at the time of the application deadline.

DFF | Ad hoc committee for Arctic research (2026) The project must be led by an applicant and a named Co-PI . The applicant and the Co-PI must enter into a relevant and binding collaboration on a joint research project. The specific collaboration between applicant and Co-PI will depend on the individual research project, but the distribution of roles must be evident from the application.

The applicant is main responsible towards the fund in the event of a grant. As applicant as well as Co-PI you must have obtained a PhD degree (or similar qualifications, e.g., positive assistant professorship evaluation) at the time of the application deadline. It is a requirement that either the applicant or the Co-PI (as a minimum) is associated with an institution in a country within the Danish Realm, cf.

the theme-specific requirements above. Both the applicant’s and the Co-PI’s previous results will be assessed in relation to their career path and in relation to the scientific challenges of the project applied for. When writing an application to the fund, you must pay special attention to ensuring that the application fulfils the objective of the theme and that it meets the fund’s assessment criteria.

The research project must be run by multiple researchers, including both an applicant and a Co-PI, and be characterised as being a coordinated and mutually binding collaboration on a well-defined research question. The research activities must establish synergy among any sub-projects.

There must be a sufficiently balanced relationship between the roles of all listed project participants (scientific/academic staff, technical/administrative staff, and whether DFF-funding or not), and the concrete role of the participants must be accounted for and justified. The research project must be of a high, international standard and involve international collaboration to a relevant extent.

If the research project is embedded in a specific, local context, it is expected that the project argues for this, similarly it must be argued if there is potentially limited internationalisation. In all cases, DFF expects applications to relate to the international state of the art within their area. The application must be written in English.

PhD and postdoctoral scholarships In your application, at least one PhD student or postdoctoral candidate must be included. Embedded PhD and postdoctoral scholarships must be well integrated into the project and fulfil a clear, independent function within the research project. The requirement is intended to support the political intention of building capacity within this area.

Embedded postdoctoral candidates must have obtained their PhD within the last 4 years at the time of the application deadline. If an embedded postdoctoral candidate does not have a PhD degree, they must have achieved equivalent qualifications, e.g., a positive assistant professorship evaluation (”adjunktbedømmelse”), within the last 4 years at the time of the DFF application deadline.

Specific periods of leave must be deducted in the calculation of PhD age, cf. section 12 . If you, as an applicant, are not an associate professor and have not been awarded a positive associate professor assessment (“lektorbedømmelse”), you must account for how the relevant supervision will be provided, and how the research student’s scientific association to the project will be ensured.

You must account for the proposed recruitment process. If a named postdoctoral candidate is a PhD student at the time of application, the application must include a declaration from the student’s supervisor, stating that the student is expected to submit the PhD thesis within 6 months after the application deadline. You may apply for up to DKK 5,000,000 excl.

overhead. The budget must be completed in the mandatory budget template, which can be downloaded from e-grant. There is no fixed lower limit for the budget framework.

It is up to the applicant to assess how much funding must be applied for (within the maximum allowed budget framework), and which is necessary for the completion of the specific research project. The size of the project and applied amount has no significance for the assessment of the application, but the fund will place emphasis on whether the applied project has a clear alignment between budget, timeline and work plan.

Project description, thematic appendix and other appendices Please note in particular that there are character and page limits for the project description and the thematic appendix and page limits for the applicant’s and the Co-PI’s CV and publication list. Exceeding these limits will result in an administrative rejection. It is always the character count generated by e-grant that applies.

You can find more information in section 10. 2 . The project description must not exceed 6 A4 pages (incl.

figures, tables, etc.). The 6 A4 pages must not exceed 18,000 characters incl. spaces, figure captions, formulas, etc. It is recommended to use the DFF template “Project description”.

The thematic appendix must not exceed 2 A4 pages (incl. figures, tables, etc.). The 2 A4 pages must not exceed 6,000 characters incl.

spaces, figure captions, formulas, etc. It is recommended to use the DFF template “Appendix”. B11: List of references/bibliography One joint list of references/bibliography for the project description and the thematic appendix. Must be completed in the mandatory DFF budget template downloaded from and uploaded to e-grant.

Must be compiled using the mandatory DFF CV template and must comply with the specified formal requirements ( see section 10. 7 ). Your CV must not exceed 3 A4 pages.

B21: Applicant’s list of publications (track record) Must be compiled using the mandatory DFF track record template and must comply with the specified formal requirements ( see section 10. 7 ). Your track record must not exceed 3 A4 pages.

Must be compiled using the mandatory DFF CV template and must comply with the specified formal requirements ( see section 10. 7 ). Your CV must not exceed 3 A4 pages.

B26: Co-PI’s list of publications (track record) Must be compiled using the mandatory DFF track record template and must comply with the specified formal requirements ( see section 10. 7 ). Your track record must not exceed 3 A4 pages.

B40: Participant's CV and list of publications (if relevant) CVs and publication lists must be attached for all named project participants, including the principal supervisor (if relevant). Participants may choose either to submit a CV and publication list without using the DFF template, with a combined maximum length of 2 pages, or to use DFF’s templates for CV (B20) and track record (B21), combined into a single PDF.

B41: Named PhD’s (if relevant) In the case of PhD positions for named individuals, the following appendices must be attached: CV, list of publications (if the candidate has already published scientific work), and a complete transcript of records/diploma.

The candidate may choose either to submit a CV and list of publications without using the DFF template, with a combined maximum length of 2 pages, or to use DFF’s templates for CV (B20) and track record (B21), compiled into a single PDF. B42: Named postdocs (if relevant) In the case of postdoctoral positions for named individuals, the following appendices must be attached: CV list of publications, and PhD diploma.

The candidate may choose either to submit a CV and list of publications without using the DFF template, with a combined maximum length of 2 pages, or to use DFF’s templates for CV (B20) and track record (B21), compiled into a single PDF.

If the candidate does not have a PhD diploma you must submit documentation showing either: a) that the thesis has been accepted for defence, b) positive assistant professorship evaluation (“adjunktbedømmelse”), c) qualifications corresponding to PhD level achieved in another manner or d) declaration from the supervisor on submission of the PhD thesis within 6 months of the application deadline (PhD students) must be submitted.

B52: Collaboration/support letter (if relevant) If a collaborator is significant for the project’s completion, a collaborative statement/letter of support must be enclosed. It must be specified how the collaborator contributes to the project (max 1 page from each). There is no template.

B63: De minimis declaration (if relevant) If funding for private companies is included, a de minimis declaration must be attached in the mandatory DFF template. Administrator’s confirmation of the budget, etc., in the mandatory DFF template “Budget Confirmation”. Supplementary information Processing of your application If your application meets the requirements for active consideration, cf.

section 7 , it will be submitted for scientific assessment in the relevant thematic committee or research council. The assessment is completed on the basis of the assessment criteria outlined in section 8 and the specific requirements for the theme “Arctic research”. Applications for “Arctic research” are not submitted for external review unless special circumstances apply.

When you have determined the most appropriate funding instrument for your research idea and whether you meet the requirements in the call for proposals, you can begin preparing your application to DFF. Applications must be submitted through the e-grant system at www. e-grant.

dk . It is important that the application is initiated and opened for the first time in e-grant by the applicant (i.e., the researcher who is mainly responsible for the project and responsible to the fund in relation to the submitted project). The application must also be submitted by the applicant.

To submit an application to DFF, you must first register as a user in e-grant. In order to access the application form, you must choose which thematic area under DFF you wish to submit an application to in the “Search possibilities” tab. When filling in the application form, you will go through a series of steps, where you must provide information about your application.

These steps vary depending on which funding instrument you are applying for. For this reason, we strongly urge you to open the application form in good time to get an overview of the information that must be included. If you experience technical issues, you should contact e-grant support as soon as possible and well in advance of the application deadline ( see section 17.

2 ). It is possible to re-open and re-submit your application up until the deadline. If you have already submitted your application, subsequently made corrections and not managed to submit these corrections before the deadline, DFF will assess the most recently submitted application received before the expiration of the application deadline.

Here you can find the answers to a range of the most frequently asked questions. 2. September 2026 kl.

12. 00 Call for Proposals - Thematic research 2026 (Arctic and the Danish Realm) DFF-Project description (Word) DFF-Project description (LaTex) DFF-Track record template De minimis Declaration (if relevant) The budget template must be downloaded in e-grant. Access counting tool (appendix) Questions about your application?

Weekdays from 9 am - 12 pm See special opening hours and closing days